Washington, D.C. – Project Learning Tree® (PLT), the environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation, has awarded 27 GreenWorks! grants to schools and youth organizations across the country for community-based environmental projects. GreenWorks! is PLT’s service-learning program that engages PLT educators and their students with their local community in “learning-by-doing” neighborhood improvement projects.

Since 1992, Project Learning Tree has distributed approximately $415,000 to fund over 725 grant projects in communities across the country. This year, $100,000 will be awarded in two funding cycles.  For the Spring 2007 awards, elementary through college age students in 20 different states will design native plant gardens, restore streams and riparian habitat, construct hiking trails, start composting projects, and investigate alternative sources of energy.  Proposals for the Fall 2007 grants are due on October 31, 2007. Grants up to $5,000 are available.

“When teachers and their students work with their community to investigate and take action to improve an aspect of the environment in the places they live, everyone benefits,” said Al Stenstrup, Director of Curriculum Programs for Project Learning Tree. “Student leadership, service-learning, and community participation are at the core of PLT’s GreenWorks! projects.”

The following are some of the projects that will take place in communities across the country during 2007:

• Teeland Middle School, Wasilla, AK
Teeland seventh graders will study stream ecology, conduct and share scientific research, and help preserve an important local salmon stream. Students will collect baseline water quality data, analyze this information, and identify one site that has been negatively impacted by human activity. They will then design and implement a revegetation plan in hopes to repopulate the stream with salmon.

• Ecological Society of America, San Jose, CA
San Jose high school teachers and students will learn the importance to their community of a local urban wetland ecosystem when they participate in a workshop at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge lead by four college students in the Strategies for Ecology Education, Development and Sustainability (SEEDS) program of the Ecological Society of America.  In turn, the high school students will work with their local San Jose State University SEEDS chapter to conduct follow-up educational outreach, service-learning projects in their community.
 
• Meridian Academy, Meridian, ID
A wind turbine, the first to be erected on school property in Idaho, will power a greenhouse with clean, renewable energy. Students will raise native vegetation in the greenhouse for the Boise Parks and Recreation Department for restoration of a local wetland and grow drought-tolerant native plants for landscaping new schools planned in the Meridian school district.  High school students will offer interpretive trips to the entire school district and community and collect data that will be presented on Idaho Power’s website to showcase the value of the wind turbine.

• Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School, Bena, MN
The Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School will complete a nature trail on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in Chippewa National Forest. There, K-12 students will be taught Ojibwe traditions and environmental stewardship as they learn to respect the land on the one-mile interpretive trail that will include an integrated native garden and six learning kiosks. Students will construct and maintain the trail system and eventually become trail guides themselves. Students will learn through their involvement in planting, building, identifying, labeling, and studying the wildlife surrounding them on the nature trail.

• Benton Soil and Water Conservation District, Corvallis, OR
Sixty Corvallis High School students will work in teams to restore an urban riparian area along a section of Dixon Creek. Students will eradicate blackberries and other invasive weeds, use survey equipment to map the site, design storm water management plans, and replant the area with native vegetation for soil erosion control and wildlife habitat enhancement. Dixon Creek is highly visible to the public and feeds into the Willamette River, the source of Corvallis’ municipal water, and the project includes plans to educate community members about protecting watershed health.

• Wylie Intermediate School, Abilene, TX
To complement a new playground following a construction project, 600 students at Wylie Intermediate School will work with Master Gardeners and other local community partners to create a butterfly garden, vegetable garden, and a wildlife garden using xeriscaping approved vegetation and planting techniques.  Native trees and vegetation will be planted to create wind breaks and reduce soil erosion, while simultaneously providing habitat for wildlife.  Students will present their work to the public at an Earth Day event at the Abilene Zoo.

• Tekoa Elementary School, Tekoa, WA
This project will engage 100 K-6 students in the process of scientific inquiry through water quality monitoring in Hangman Creek. They will make observations, capture and analyze data, and report their findings to parents, community members, and the city council.  To enhance their local study site, students will work with their local 4-H club to construct a small building near the creek to enable them to conduct science experiments and work to improve the area on an ongoing basis.  Each student will plant a tree to provide shade for aquatic life.

“Project Learning Tree is proud to be a partner with the many education and community organizations that support youth environmental service learning projects” said Kathy McGlauflin, Director of Project Learning Tree and Senior Vice President of American Forest Foundation.

For more information about GreenWorks! and a complete list of Project Learning Tree’s GreenWorks! grants awards, visit www.plt.org or contact Vanessa Bullwinkle, Director of Operations and Marketing, 202.463.2472,  vbullwinkle@plt.org.

Project Learning Tree® (PLT) is the environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation. PLT provides educators with comprehensive environmental education curriculum resources that can be integrated into lesson plans for all grades and subject areas. PLT teaches students “how to think, not what to think” about complex environmental issues, and helps students learn the skills they need to make sound choices about the environment.  Developed in 1976, PLT has an international network of more than 500,000 trained educators using PLT materials that cover the total environment.  The American Forest Foundation, a nonprofit organization, works for healthy forests, quality environmental education, and informed decision-making about our communities and our world.